Sound Test Online — Free Check
Quick online sound test for left, right and stereo channels with a clear 1 kHz reference tone. Confirm each side works in seconds. Free, runs in your browser.
Protect your hearing. Start at a low volume. Never raise the volume to make a tone audible. Levels are shown in dBFS, relative to full scale — not SPL.
How it works
A 1 kHz tone is routed with a StereoPannerNode: −1 for the left channel, +1 for the right, and 0 for both. The tone is generated live in your browser with the Web Audio API. Nothing is uploaded or recorded. Levels are reported in dBFS, relative to full scale.
A quick sound test answers the simplest and most common audio question in a few seconds: is sound coming out of both sides? Select Left, Both, or Right, press Play, and listen. A short 1 kHz tone plays only in the channel you chose, and the page states in text which channel is active, so you can confirm the result even if you are testing remotely or cannot hear the tone yourself.
Left / right sound test
Use the Left and Right buttons to isolate one channel at a time. If the tone labeled Left comes out of your right speaker, or vice versa, your channels are reversed — a swapped cable, a mirrored headphone jack, or an operating-system setting. Isolating each side is the fastest way to catch a dead driver or a bad connection.
Stereo sound test
Choose Both to play the identical tone in both channels at once. A correct stereo setup reproduces it as a single centred image between the speakers or inside your head. If Both sounds louder on one side, your balance control or a driver is off; if it sounds hollow or phasey, your speakers may be wired out of polarity.
Speaker and headphone channel check
This test works for any output: desktop speakers, a soundbar, studio monitors, wired headphones, or wireless earbuds. It uses the Web Audio API with a stereo panner so each channel is exact, and it generates the tone live in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is recorded, and no sound plays until you ask for it.
Aliases covered on this page: sound test, left right sound test, stereo sound test, and speaker channel test.
Frequently asked questions
What is a quick sound test?
A quick sound test plays a short 1 kHz tone in the left channel, the right channel, or both at once so you can confirm that each side of your speakers or headphones produces sound. The page names the channel being played in text as well as in sound.
How do I know which channel is playing?
Select Left, Both, or Right, then press Play. The text result states the channel, for example "Playing Left channel", and the readout shows the selected channel and frequency in hertz. If you hear the tone on the wrong side, your channels or your cable are swapped.
Why does the test use a 1 kHz tone?
1 kHz sits in the middle of the most sensitive part of human hearing, so it is easy to hear at a low level and easy to localise. It is the standard reference frequency for channel and balance checks.
What does the Both setting do?
Both plays the same tone equally in the left and right channels, so it should sound centred between your ears or speakers. It is not a hard-panned trick; it is a genuinely centred signal for confirming stereo balance.
Is this safe for my hearing?
Start at a low volume and never raise the volume to make the tone audible. The tool plays only from a user gesture, provides a persistent Stop and Mute, and reports levels in dBFS relative to full scale, never in SPL.